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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23868181">I Need A Lawkeeper</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/aflawedfashion/pseuds/aflawedfashion'>aflawedfashion</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Defiance (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Female Friendship, Friendship, Gen, Season 2, post episode</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:33:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>641</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23868181</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/aflawedfashion/pseuds/aflawedfashion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>With the E-Rep destroyed, Pottinger gone, and Nolan presumed dead, Amanda asks a grieving Berlin for help.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jessica "Berlin" Rainer &amp; Amanda Rosewater</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I Need A Lawkeeper</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I won the election,” Amanda stated as she watched Berlin stare into the depths of a whiskey glass. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course you won,” Berlin slurred, her back to Amanda. “You couldn’t convince a single person to oppose you in an emergency election for a job </span>
  <em>
    <span>no one</span>
  </em>
  <span> wants.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> wanted this job.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then you’re a fool.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I prefer optimist,” Amanda said with a smile, but when Berlin didn’t respond, the smile fell from her face. “It’s time to start over,” she continued, realizing the pointlessness of small talk and pleasantries. “I’m going to lead this town forward, and anyone willing to disavow the Earth Republic is welcome to stand beside me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And if I don’t, what are you going to do? Shoot me?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll do whatever is necessary to stop another fascist uprising from compromising the future of this town.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Right.” Berlin chuckled. “That’s the fancy way of saying you’ll shoot me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I will never shoot you for disagreeing with me,” Amanda said, her passion growing with every word. “You have every right to call me a fool, argue with me, and run against me in the next election, but if you try to unlawfully remove me from power in the name of the Earth Republic, I will consider it an act of war, and I will stop you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I get it. Blah, blah, the king is dead. Long live the king.” She cast a spiteful gaze over her shoulder. “You can go now,” she said before turning back to her drink.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not threatening you,” Amanda said. “I’m asking you to join me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And do what?” Berlin snapped.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I need a lawkeeper.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What about Nolan?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The mines are completely sealed off, and even if we found an entrance after all this time...” she swallowed the lump that was rapidly forming in her throat, threatening her strong voice. “It’s been over a month.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So you’re saying he’s dead?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Amanda’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Maybe,” she added more forcefully. “I can’t speak definitively.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Berlin pushed a bottle of whiskey towards the seat beside her, inviting Amanda to join her in misery.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your boyfriend’s dead.” She spun in her chair, facing Amanda with bloodshot eyes. “Don’t you dare tell me that doesn’t hurt.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He wasn’t my boyfriend.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And Tommy wasn’t mine, but here I am.” Berlin lifted her glass in a one-sided toast. “Love doesn’t end when you’re dumped, and it doesn’t die when you’re widowed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I get it, I do.” Amanda looked down, giving herself a single second to indulge in her own pain. “But, my feelings can’t matter when this town needs my strength.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This town is a shtakhole.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No. It isn’t.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Take a look around,” Berlin said. “Notice anyone else day drinking instead of working?” She drew Amanda’s attention to a table full of laid-off miners. “The mines were the lifeblood of this town. You didn’t just lose your boyfriend. You lost your entire economy, every reason you have to get out of bed in the morning.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We can help them.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Berlin scoffed, once again turning her back to Amanda.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t act like you don’t care,” Amanda said. ‘Don’t act like you’re going to drink yourself to death. That’s not who you are.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How the hell would you know who I am?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because I used to be you, and I’m still standing. I’m still fighting.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Berlin stared straight ahead, silently sipping her drink.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taking her silence as a win, Amanda said, “you might leave Defiance, or you might stay, but you won’t die in this bar.” Amanda set a lawkeeper’s badge next to Berlin. “And if it helps you decide what you’re going to do, like I said, I need a lawkeeper.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Berlin picked up the badge, but Amanda turned away before she could say anything. She knew Berlin would find her when she was ready.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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